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Puerto Rican quail-dove
The Puerto Rican quail-dove (Geotrygon larva) is an extinct species of dove from the genus of quail-doves Geotrygon. It is only known by subfossil material from the Holocene of Puerto Rico. TaxonomyAccording to Alexander Wetmore who described this species, it was related to the grey-fronted quail-dove (Geotrygon caniceps), which occurs on Cuba.[1] The tarsometatarsus of the Puerto Rican quail-dove is longer than in the grey-fronted quail-dove. Compared with the ruddy quail-dove (G. montana), which presently occurs on Puerto Rico, the tarsometatarsi are more slender. DiscoveryRemains of the Puerto Rican quail-dove were unearthed in the Cueva Clara and Cueva Catedral near Morovis, in the Cueva Toraño at Utuado, and in a kitchen midden near Mayagüez on Puerto Rico. The holotype, a tarsometatarsus, was discovered in July 1916 by zoologist Harold Elmer Anthony in the Cueva Clara. ExtinctionThe large amount of unearthed material led to the assumption that the Puerto Rican quail-dove might have been a common bird before the initial arrival of humans to the island. Its extinction may have been due to deforestation.[citation needed] References
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